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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 124 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Word bank
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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: stand · press · last · straw · bat · shower · degree · wax

  1. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  2. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  3. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  4. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  5. Did you ________________ the button?
  6. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  7. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  8. I can't ________________ this cold.
  9. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  10. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  11. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  12. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  13. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  14. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  15. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  16. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  17. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  18. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  19. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  20. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  21. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  22. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  23. False peace will not ________________.
  24. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. degree — temperature
  2. last — final
  3. degree — from a university
  4. straw — to clutch at straws
  5. press — to push
  6. bat — the animal
  7. degree — an amount
  8. stand — to bear
  9. bat — for baseball
  10. bat — in an idiom
  11. wax — to grow
  12. wax — in the ear
  13. stand — for spectators
  14. shower — to wash
  15. straw — a straw man
  16. shower — rain
  17. stand — on your feet
  18. last — finally
  19. straw — dry grass
  20. press — newspapers
  21. press — a publisher
  22. wax — for sculpting
  23. last — to go on
  24. shower — a meteor shower

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com